Son Volt adds new dates to winter trek

Indie rockers Son Volt have added a number of new dates for late winter to their tour schedule as the band's retooled lineup continues to back its latest album.

After a Dec. 8 show in Santa Fe, NM, the group will take the following month and a half off before climbing back into the tour van for a series of shows in the South, kicking off with a Jan. 25 appearance in Raleigh, NC.

"Okemah and the Melody of Riot" released in June, was the band's first release since frontman Jay Farrar reconfigured its lineup with an entirely new cast of musicians after a hiatus following 1998's "Wide Swing Tremolo."

Farrar--a founding member of Uncle Tupelo with Jeff Tweedy, who went on to form Wilco--embarked on a busy solo career after the band's split, releasing two studio albums, an EP and a live album while touring frequently. He began to reconsider the Son Volt option out of a desire to return to a more rock-oriented sound after the mostly acoustic tones of his solo work, according to a press release.

"I was ready to get back to playing electric. I wanted the solo records to be open-ended, open to trying out different sounds, different approaches. With this Son Volt record, I wanted to get back to the fundamentals," he said.

Aside from Farrar, the current Son Volt lineup features guitarist Brad Rice, bassist Andrew Duplantis and drummer Dave Bryson. A six-song collection of previously unreleased material, "Afterglow 61 EP," was recently released through limited distribution channels. Information on obtaining the EP can be found on Farrar's website.